Day 8 Road Trip-Winterset, IA to Neosho, MO

 I was glad this was a mostly driving day with just a few stops so Elizabeth could just sleep in the van all day. Today, the poor girl had some body aches and added a runny nose and feeling like there was something in her throat. Plus, she still had the sore throat, headache,  and felt exhausted and dizzy. Her fever was down to around 100-101 though so I was thankful for that. 

Our first time in Nebraska! 

We stopped at a Lewis and Clark place. They had a keelboat replica outside so we looked at that. 

                                                           

The state tree is a Cottonwood! The kids allergies wouldn't do well here. 

Checking out the boat. 

Welcome to Omaha sign. 

Crossing from Nebraska back into Iowa before we headed south to Missouri. 

We arrived at Independence, Missouri to find the official start of the Oregon trail. I laughed at what was playing at this movie theatre. There could be movie for each of us! Downton for me. Top Gun for Jeremy. Jurassic World for Nathan. I guess that meant Elizabeth got Lightyear. Obviously, we didn't watch a movie but it was funny. 

This was the official start of the Oregon Trail in Independence. 

We found a spring that used to have water where the pioneers filled up before heading west. 

Oregon Trail marker

Day 7 Road Trip-Iowa Part 2-Bridges of Madison County

Our next stop was the bridges of Madison County. I had always wanted to see the covered bridges.  There are 6. The bridges are centered around Winterset, Iowa. 

We stopped first at the Imes Bridge in St. Charles Iowa. 

Next stop was the Holliwell Bridge

I wanted to take a picture of the family at a bridge, but Elizabeth wouldn't get out of the car because she was so sick. At exactly 3:00 when the hotel had check in, we checked in and put her to bed. She went right to sleep. A little later, Jeremy and I went to drive around and looked at 2 other bridges close to town. around the area.  Nathan wasn't interested in looking at other bridges so he stayed with her while she slept.  

We had a pretty view from our hotel room. 

Hogback Bridge. This one was my favorite bridge. I think it was because the scenery around it was the most beautiful. 

We then drove through Winterset to find the bridge in the park. 

Cutler-Donahue Bridge

This bridge was in the park in town. 

We didn't make it to the last 2 bridges -Cedar Bridge and Roseman Bridge. They were pretty far out of town and we didn't want to leave Elizabeth for too long. 

We did; however, find a castle! Driving up a hill near the park, there was a little stone castle. 

We pretended we were in England. It kind of looked like it! Iowa was also very beautiful. 

Nathan's leftover burgers from the family reunion!

Elizabeth now had a 102 fever plus the sore throat. Her head hurt and she was exhausted. I had planned for the worst which was us catching covid on the trip so I pulled out my box of covid tests. Her test popped positive quickly. I had also brought along thermometer, ibuprofen, and tylenol just in case. I was fearful if we all caught it, we'd need to stay somewhere for days for us to all feel better. Since Jeremy had it in January, I was hopeful at least HE wouldn't get it, but knew I would be very sick if I did get it. But all we could do was keep going with her being sick. So we just kept driving and stayed away from people and did all outside activities (which wasn't much). I had her wear a mask when she walked in and out of the hotels.